MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Judges order arrest of a key official from Cristina Fernandez on alleged fraud
De Vido, who as planning minister was in charge of running energy infrastructure projects, is under investigation in a case involving the coal mine of Rio Turbio Three Argentine judges ordered that a key official in former President Cristina Fernandez's government be detained as part of a probe into an alleged case of fraud. The request to detain former planning minister and current lawmaker Julio De Vido comes five days before the country's parliamentary elections in which Fernandez is seeking a Senate seat.
De Vido, who as planning minister was in charge of running energy infrastructure projects, is under investigation in a case involving the Patagonian coal mine Rio Turbio, which prosecutors say is under producing despite receiving multi-million dollar investments from the state.
In an official ruling, the judges said De Vido should be jailed because of the risk of him fleeing or interfering with the case. “His imprisonment is the only viable alternative for ensuring the success of the investigation,” the ruling said.
De Vido cannot be arrested unless Congress agrees to strip him of his parliamentary immunity. Past efforts to strip lawmakers of parliamentary immunity have mostly proved futile in Argentina.
Cristina Fernandez, who governed the country from 2007 to 2015, remains the main force of opposition to center-right President Mauricio Macri. Polls show her coming a close second ahead of an Oct. 22 Senate race in Argentina's largest province of Buenos Aires, behind Macri's preferred candidate.
That result would still guarantee her a Senate seat and immunity from arrest, but is seen lessening her chances of making a new run for the presidency in 2019.
The former president's time in office has been peppered with corruption accusations, many of which have involved De Vido, who was the distributor of public works' funds in the different provinces, based on a list of privileged companies and submissive regional governments.
Cristina Fernandez, the subject of corruption investigations herself, has acknowledged there was likely corruption during her government but denies personal involvement.
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Read all commentsAbout time, this is good news for Argentina, and bad news for Narcokleptocrat. If she's smart, she'll leave the country, but she's a crook.
Oct 19th, 2017 - 05:30 pm +3¡Fuera Cristina! ¡Vos sos la Asesina!
Local media are reporting that de Vido is considering resigning from his congressional seat. Today his right-hand man, Roberto Baratta, was also arrested and jailed, and 23 others have been indicted in the matter. Two of de Vido's other former ministry officials, José López and Ricardo Jaime, are already convicted and in prison.
Oct 20th, 2017 - 02:57 am +1Where is Ridiculous Reekie now that his friends are going to jail? Or is he just carrying a face?
My guess is he's banking on La Asesina getting a seat in the election so he can come in and crow about it. I saw the thing about Baratta hauled in, but hadn't heard that De Vido was considering resigning. Not sure what good that would do him, but Bonadio has weighed in calling for him to be stripped of his seat, and it seems some FpV are considering voting to go along with the judges. The deaths he was involved in and the magnitude of the theft may have made support for him the political kiss of death...
Oct 20th, 2017 - 04:41 am +1http://www.thebubble.com/another-judge-requests-julio-de-vido-be-stripped-from-his-parliamentary-immunity-and-detained/
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